Available during school holidays dependent on numbers.

The playground can be hard work for some children! At the Playground Skills Camp, children learn and practise strategies for how to be more successful with making and keeping friends. The group program is developed in response to a parent questionnaire which communicates the specific needs of the individual children attending.

This program is a fun opportunity for children to learn and practise social interactions in a safe environment. Our therapists teach cognitive strategies through role play and dynamic games. Children explore strategies for knowing how to:

• play in the playground
• make friends
• keep friends
• greet others
• join in
• have a go
• follow the rules of a game
• initiate and engage in conversation
• be aware of others’ feelings
• recognise and respond to social cues
• understand and communicate feelings (such as anxiety and anger) in safe and calm ways
• be confident
• cope with winning and losing
• problem solve
• be resilient

Children are given a portfolio of strategies to take home to you or to their teacher so they can keep practising with siblings and peers.